"I feel a little alarmed when it happens that I have walked a mile into the woods bodily, without getting there in spirit. I would like to forget all my morning's occupation, my obligations to society. But sometimes it happens that I cannot easily shake off the village; the thought of some work, some surveying [Thoreau's 'other' occupation], will run in my head, and I am not where my body is; I am out of my senses. In my walks, I wish to return to my senses like a bird or a beast. What business have I in the woods, if I am thinking of something out of the woods?"
Henry David Thoreau
Photo: Aspen grove, Oh-Be-Joyful Trail, Kebler Pass, near Crested Butte, CO; September 22, 2012
No comments:
Post a Comment